Gro Brækken
The function-based regulations in Norway allow for continuous development, while at the same time, the operatingcompanies have a very clear and specific responsibility. This means extra quality control in all operations. I have no doubt that this contributes to the high level of safety. Gro Brækken, Director General of the Norwegian Oil Industry Association
This is an important report for BOE’s regulatory philosophers and those who are involved in one of the post-Macondo reviews. The description of the US regime is not entirely accurate, but this comparison is nonetheless very useful.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 
Some of this is a matter of timing as to whether a country can claim to have a better regulatory regime than another. There was a near miss that would have become a major disaster in Norway shortly before the Macondo well. Likewise had the tanker that ran across the jackup in the Gulf of Mexico actually holed the inner tanks rather than the outer ones we would have had a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a matter of months before Macondo…….these are rare events with high consequence, and its hard to anticipate when and where they will occur.
I do beilieve there are things we can learn from Norway. A pre-qualification of oil companies to operate is a feature of Norwegian regs. Their experience level of oil company personnel may be more; their formal approach to risk evaluations also tends to decrease the probabiliy of an incident.